and this is what winfield scott wanted to do. he wanted to see what was going on even though he was no longer in a position, he weighed almost 300 pounds at this point and couldn't ride a horse, to go see what the army was actually about. finally it became obvious to winfield scott and those around him it was time for him to turn over the reins to a younger man, much younger, and so his request for retirement was approved in late october, 1861. as he left on a train up to west point, the military academy where he would live out his days, a new order arrived for mcclellan. he was now appointed commanding general of the entire united states army. remember, he's only 35 years old. he's now commanding all of the federal forces. in response to president lincoln's express concern, here's your commission, and i'm really worried that you can't do all this. the young general looked back at the president and said simply, i can do it all. and so given that, the assurance that i can do it all, they moved forward together. but it wasn't long

winfield scott hancock was superb. giving hancock, of course, that hancock was superb that would last the rest of the war, all the generals north and south came out of that experience understanding that leading a troop of cavalry in texas in 1858 was a lot different than commanding a division of 6,000 soldiers all of whom are looking to you for guidance, inspiration, and development on the field at williamsburg. they all had a lot to learn. as the union forces followed up on that success at williamsburg and followed joe johnston's forces retreating up the peninsula, they encountered one of the rainiest months of may on record. and they struggled with maps, u.s. army topographic service maps that bore little if any relation to reality. mcclellan received a note from colonel george stoneman whose cavalry found him at new kent courthouse on the 10th of may. solomon says, the map is wrong with regard that this road and every road! mcclellan then sent a telegram up to edwin stanton at the war department saying that he has a

winfield scott had proclaimed lee the best soldier i ever saw in the field. and i would suggest he was the sin qua none of victory in the mexican war. he turned down the field command of the united states army offered by scott through lincoln. but during the first year of the war, he was probably the least influential great man that existed. he raised and equipped and trained virginia troops, but then turned them over to the confederate army and became a general with no soldiers. he was a semiconsultant, and that's my analysis, presided over the loss of the valley of what is now west virginia and some virginians will suggest that wasn't much loss. in any event, he did lose in the first campaign that he oversaw. he commanded the confederate department of south carolina, georgia, and florida. arrived just as the federal army or navy essentially, dupont, captured port royal and secured hilton head so yankees could retire there. and lee himself in analyzing the military circumstance along the atlantic coast decided there was no way to defend the low country, the

. >> winfield scott is another one of those discoveries and by the time of the civil war winfield scott is essentially shuttered aside. scott spends the rest of the civil war as sort of this daughtering old man. but there's a real good story about winfield scott that has nothing to do with the civil war and that's why i wanted to write about him. this is a man who is a lieutenant general in the army and no one other than george washington has ever achieved that rank until you police sl y s. grant. this is one of the hard sells i had to do to the publisher. the mexican war? who wants to -- what is the mexican war? it's a story that involves the civil war characters not in the civil war but just as interesting. >> you mentioned jefferson writing the declaration with adams and franklin looking over your shoulder. was mccullough looking over your shoulder in this? >> i appreciate you asking me about mccullough. is there a conspiracy of publishers, i mean do you guys all get together and say, you know, let's make the revolution hot, and so everybody gets together and writes -- i was not awar

i like to use the example of winfield scott. you know, winfield scott was there. he was a great military mind. great military hero. but he does very little preparation for this war that, well, it may come, may not come, until george mclelland comes up with this idea of the trans-montana campaign, going across the mountains and capturing richmond from behind and it will all be over very, very quickly. well, it's then that winfield scott comes up with what comes to be known as the an con da plan. he basically says, now, george, you know, that's an interesting idea but those kind of campaigns don't work. but i've got this better idea. of course, i'm going to want you to be a leader in all of this. well, the war comes, doesn't it? what happens at first bull run? both sides have the same battle plans. they're both going to hit the other one's flank. and i used to do this in a classroom on a blackboard or whiteboard, whatever it is today, show the two sides and show them if both battle plans had worked at the same time, what would have happened is they would have been c

winfield scott was a virginiaen when he stayed with the union.as great adulation because he was the great military mind. look what he had done in previous wars. but the people who all went to west point got to know each other and when the war began, some one one way, some went the other way, the problem was that they did know each other and they were all the same training. they had the same ideas, many, many of them. so, as a result, when the war began, they all thought in terms of fighting about the same way. and consequently, when you fight the same way and you know what the other guy is going to do theoretically, it's difficult not to react -- pardon me. it's difficult to react in an appropriate way. and west pointers were all prepared in the same particular sort of way. and what happened in west point, and, of course, this fact that some people left meant that west point bore the stigma of traitorism, before and after the war for a long time. that had an enormous impact and development on military policy. >> that's an interesting concept. eve

with the president, the commanding general of the army about that time quite elderly and infirm winfield scott and a number of influential members of congress he sat down to write as he did almost every night to his wife at home who was waiting for him in pennsylvania. and here's what he said to ellen, i find myself in a new and strange position here, president, cabinet, general scott and all deferring to me. by some strange operation of magic, i seem to have become the power of the land. mcclellan then set to work right away to try and bring some order out of the chaos that represented the u.s. army in and around washington. you had people whose three-month enlistments was running out. militia units like the hoity-toity infantry of new york were going home and others just arriving. the great mass of enthusiastic volunteers who were arriving in the washington area. by the fall you had over 80,000 federal troops around there. mcclellan actively pursued a campaign to get regular army officers assigned to his department there, the defense of washington which was called at that point the mil

mcclellan to commanding general of the army as opposed to the defeated irwin mcdowell and the aged winfield scott. but as soon as they began to work closely together, friction developed here. stanton was a republican. mcclellan was a -- what was then called a war democrat, someone who was in favor of certainly restoring the union, but not much else. and so they had different political views, different personalities, and stanton did complain, mcclellan always wanted more men and he wanted them yesterday. and so that's why after the failure to take richmond in 1862, mcclellan was ordered to begin shipping his army back up to the washington area and was not reinforced for a second try in richmond. it wouldn't be until grant came in 1864 that richmond would hear cannons just outside its gates once again. >> john mountcastle thank you for taking time and spending with our viewers here on "american history tv." >> i appreciate it. and i appreciate the great questions. >> john mountcastle's nomination once again was george b. mcclellan. he's the fourth out of five historians who will nominate pers

the name old guard was actually given to us by general winfield scott.n he said, the members of his staff, the 3rd infantry marches by him, he said, gentlemen, take off your old guard of the army. >> thank you very much. we must travel along to visit other activities here in the military district of washington. now, here is a job you wouldn't expect to find in our modern army, and it's just about the only job of its kind left. but here at fort myer, it's a very important job. it's about the only job left in the cavalry army. they draw the caisson in full honor funerals, and it gets its share of attention. polish and elbow grease is in perfect order as it bears the casket of the fallen hero. this is the comparison horse, riderless with cavalry boots turned backwards in the stirrups of the empty saddle. it follows behind the caisson in the funeral procession. we've now moved to a position immediately adjacent to arlington national cemetery here at north post, fort myer. off to my left is a cemetery. we have asked the noncommissioned officer of a detail tha

he has a great soldier in winfield scott but the fellow is frankly passed it, both physically and mentally. he has charles halleck who is intellectually gifted but not a good general. he has mcclellan's who knows everything about training and nothing about fighting. he has this funny guy the ones in a while had alcohol problems out in the west who seems to win. and he has this old cacophony of experts and relatives being thrust upon him, and somehow through several years of trial and error, he keeps making mistakes until he comes up with grant and sherman and thomas and he finally gets people who can beat the confederate generals. and it is a wonderful lesson because, you know, he does not have a revelation. he does not come in and get it right. and even when he had doubts about a general, he knows there are political issues about removing him. it is a wonderful lesson in a truly great man pursuing great ends with huge constraints. and what makes it great as he does not do it flawlessly but he does it adequately. >> after lincoln we mentioned in the same brand churchill and lincoln -- chur

proclamation of april 15, there were 5,000 federal troops in the district of columbia under the command of winfield scott. they even put together a plan where scott would locate the troops around the federal treasury building and they would hold lincoln within that building to defend it in case they were met with forces. there was a great concern that maryland was going to secede. so railroad tracks were torn up, lines to philadelphia had been cut and so lincoln orders merriman's arrest and he's put in ft. mchenry. and roger taney took exception to that, and brought a writ of habeas corpus, which general cadwaller refused to honored. this enraged taney and there's just one paragraph i want to read to you. the case then is simply this, a military officer residing in pennsylvania issues an order to arrest a citizen in maryland, upon vague and indefinite charges without any proof as far as appears. under this order, his house is entered in the night about 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. he's seized as a prisoner and conveyed to ft. mchenry. and when habeas corpus is served on the commanding officer, in o

the historian david nichols who is a dean at southwestern college in winfield, kansas, applied greenstein's ideas to eisenhower's civil rights strategies and created a much different portrait of his contribution to the movement than earlier biographers. like greenstein, nichols emphasized the impact of eisenhower's personnel choices. the president appointed herbert brownell as the attorney general, a man who was committed to civil rights and whose legal brief supporting integration of public schools comprised part of the supreme court's information package on the brown versus board of education case. in addition, the appointments to the federal judiciary that eisenhower made shaped it for decades. the most obvious example of this was the chief justice of the supreme court, earl warren, who spearheaded the judiciary's dismantling of jim crow. in addition, judges like elbert tuttle, john brown, john minor wisdom and frank johnson jr. were appointed to lower federal courts and played key roles in desegregating the south in the 1960s. to screen candidates for such posts, eisenhower relied on hi

oh, my gosh, now he's second in command only to his war-time commander from mexico, old general winfield scott in washington. as someone who moved at a considerably more sedate pace up the scales, i can tell you moving from captain to major general in that short of time is really moving at warp speed. and it was as major general u.s. army and the commander of the department of ohio that mcclellan would lead union forces across the ohio river into the area around claksburg, virginia. today if you look for it on the map you have to look over to west virginia. clarksburg, virginia, on the 27th of june, 1861. so the summer of '61 sees him moving into action. assisted by his old antebellum army friend william

carter admiral winfield, the secretaries of the services and chiefs, and one of the members of the committee asked dr. carter what he had plan for sequestration. his answer, basically was, we don't have to do any planning for it. automatic we have to do is pull out the budget and take 8% off of every line item. and i think everybody in here probably understands the chaos that would create. i don't know how many contracts the department has. i know it's hundreds. those would have to go back and be renegotiated. pensions, retirement plans, health insurance,ll things that would have to be dealt with. further forcereduction, immediately. and then, sequestration kicking in. i, mr. secretary, talked to you about this. i put in a bill and dealing with everything we're talking about here today, the sequestration takes it right over the top. and we're looking the reports we're hearing about the rattling going on over in iran. the new leadership inkorea. i think the world is in a very serious situation. i know, general, you told us in a meeting a couple weeks ago in your 37 years, this is the most ser

april 16, 1861, there were but 5,000 federal troops in the district of columbia under the command of winfield scott. and in fact, they even put together a plan where scott would locate the troops around the federal treasury building and they would hold lincoln within that building to defend it in case they were met with forces from the confederacy. and there was a great concern that maryland was going to secede. so lincoln -- railroad tracks were torn up. the telegraph lines going to philadelphia had been cut. and merriman was viewed as part of this group that had done it. and so finally, lincoln orders merriman's arrest, and he's put in fort mchenry. and roger tanny took exception to that, and brought a writ of habeas corpus, which colonel george cadwaller refused, who is the custodian of mr. merriman. refused to honor. and in fact informed judge tanny that it was not just the president but cadwaller himself was the one delegated with presidential authority to suspend the writ if he saw so fit. this enraged tanny. and there's just one paragraph that i want to read to you, because i can just

kyle winfield, lee may, thank you. appreciate it.ll see what happens in nevada today. >>> smoke, flames, and shelling engulfed parts of syria. hundreds of people are reported killed. women and children. we'll have a live report next. >>> unfolding this this morning in syria, intense shelling being reported in the city of homs. activists say at least 260 people including women and children have died. they are being massacred in the embattled city the last day alone. one witness said he saw ma schet machetes being used. we are joined with the latest. >> reporter: residents and activists have been describing to us a scene of utter carnage and horror. they say what's going on in syria and in homs is a massacre. government forces are shelling them but there are snipers there, women and children being killed. the syria observatory for human rights say over 200 people have been killed in homs and over 130 in the neighborhood. here is how one activist on the ground described the scene to us. >> the situation is really, really bad. they have

the carol stream fire protection district also covers parts of bloomingdale winfield, and glendale highted to spend more time with his family ... he has also gone on record opposing mayor emanuel's plan to reduce the number firefighters assigned to each truck. >>chicagos churches are suddenly being confronted with a major unexpected expense and that is installing water meters mayor rahm emanuel is cutting off free water for churches and nonprofit groups while the water perk will be phased out over the next three years 400 churches and thousands of nonprofit organizations are having to purchase water meters churches that ignore the city's order to get meters may lose their status as charitable organizations chicago is naming a street in honor of comedian bernie mac it's in the englewood.neighborhood ... where he grew up that is where we find robert jordan who joins us live >>it's bernie mac street! >>no longer 69th and sangamon it's bernie mac st. local clergy dignitaries and family members turned out to see what was named after someone who grew up bernard mccullough ... his popularity w

and one of them was named winfield scott, and it was, it was these army generals who ran the army after the war, another one, another famous leader was named brown, general brown. and they are the ones who trained the people who fought in the civil war. so it had a huge impact on them. the united states army right at the end did quite well against the british. they redeemed themselves for the earlier defeats under this new leadership. >> when did this war become known as the war of 1812? >> well, i think right from the beginning. it was called, also, the second war of independence. and a lot of, a lot of historians have pooh-poohed it in the sense that we for the first time fought a war, the first big war under the institutions that had been created in, under the new constitution and did it successfully and did it under that constitution without us becoming a military dictatorship. and we changed our whole relationship with the english. in that sense it really was a war of independence. it really solidified america's independence in the world. we were now in control of our own destiny.

. >> we have conservative blogger, kyle winfield. we are going to start with rick santorum.miss an opportunity with the debate? he was a little bit on fire. he was fooeisty, what do you think? >> he came in knowing he was going to be attacked. he was ready for some of that. the problem where he may have missed an opportunity, he got caught up in inside baseball-type arguments with particularly with mitt santorum with who he endorsed in the senate race and how the earmarking process works in congress and a few reasons why it may not be the worst thing in the world. in the tea party era, it's not what republican voters want to hear. he missed a couple opportunities to make a broader message. >> i think a lot of people looking for that broader message. >> mitt romney, from from chicago, excuse me, from michigan i should say. he's having a tough time there. it's interesting. the venue he was having a big speech at was too small. he moved to a larger one. the visual impact of seeing those people in such a large venue, how big is michigan for him and does it send a message? >> tha

apparently this guy, goes by the name of slinky winfield. ♪ >> reporter: aka slinky sunbeam. >> he washe takes her from being a girl to being a woman. and to lose that really hurts a little bit more. >> this record is inspired by something that is really normal and everyone's been through it. it's a rubbish relationship. >> reporter: a quick troll of youtube reveals slinky to be relatively untalented musician and actor. the previous boyfriend who inspired "19" is now claiming he's a muse who deserves a slice of the cash. pop is littered with blatant dedication. and the odd mystery like adele's, carly simon, of course, the most famous. ♪ you're so vain >> is it mick jagger? warren beatty? she won't tell me. >> i would have to say -- it is. >> at last, at last. >> wouldn't you agree? >> it's one thing to write a song about love that is working and happy. it's so much more immediate when you write a song about heartbreak. ♪ >> reporter: so i guess we have slinky partially to thank for this genius. if i ever see him on the streets of london, i'll give him a piece of my mind. ♪ ♪ i heard th

rich environment and when she graduated she and another one of her howard law school mates, julius winfieldrobertson formed a law practice here in washington, dc. and she had a very distinguished civil rights career here in washington, dc. one thing that struck me and especially in light of what we're talking about concerning unsung heroes and it's just the heroes that we don't always hear about is she and her partner brought a series of cases before the intrastate commerce commission which helped to catalyze the desegregation of trains and buses in this country. and one of the cases that she brought which was very meaningful to me was a case on behalf of the aim woman name sarah louise keys who like her was a private in the women's army corps. she was in the military. she was traveling on her first furlough home on the bus from her post to her home. and she refused to give up her seat and move to the back for a white marine. and she was arrested for disorderly conduct. and w. roundtree and her partner represented her and actually brought a case before the interstate commission challenging

carter and admiral winfield, the secretaries of the services and chiefs, and one of the members of themittee asked dr. carter what he had done, what was being done to plan for sequestration. his answer basically was, we don't have to do any planning for it. automatic we have to do is pull out the budget and take 8% off of every line item. and i think everybody in here probably understands the chaos that would create. i don't know how many contracts the department has. i know it's hundreds. those would have to go back and be renegotiated. pensions retirement plans, health insurance, all of the things that would have to be dealt with. further force reduction immediately. and then sequestration kicking in. i, mr. secretary talked to you about this. i put in a bill and dealing with everything we're talking about here today, the sequestration takes it right over the top. and we're looking the reports we're hearing about the rattling going on over in iran. the new leadership in korea. i think the world is in a very serious situation. i know general, you told us in a meeting a couple weeks ag